270 killed in army operation in Donetsk, Lugansk regions in Ukraine

KIEV: A total of 270 people have been killed and 713 injured during the Ukrainian army’s ongoing operation in Ukraine’s eastern regions, the Ukrainian Health Ministry reported Wednesday.

“Since the start of the standoff, 225 people have died and 576 sought medical assistance over wounds in the Donetsk Region; 150 are currently in hospitals. In the Lugansk Region, 45 people have died and 137 have been injured,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, Ukrainian parliament-appointed Health Minister Oleg Musy said some 10 medical institutions in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions either don’t work or don’t work in full due to a complicated situation there.

Clashes have been underway between the Ukrainian military and militias in Ukraine’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which refused to recognize the authorities who had been propelled to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

A Kiev-led punitive operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine’s Southeast that involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation has already claimed hundreds of lives, including civilian, and left some buildings destroyed and damaged. PNA